The Portland daily press., 1887-05-17
noAxiNc NEWSPAPERS.
Queer Franks Executed by MIschiev-
GUS Journalists.
philadelphia prcss.l

lltSS
The recent hoax whereby an evening pa
per of New York was lEed into printing an
acrostic that.wssss-e Extremely uncomplimenta-
~ toJhts proprietor, recalls number Of such
jokes which have passed into newspaper his
tory. Many an editor has been victimized
by communications which he did not know
were loaded. Most of these have been coarse,
many obscene, and few real witty. About
a century ago, woman in Germany was
convicted of having changed a sentence aa /,
dressed to Eve, in Genesis, in which man is
spoken of as lord of the woman. ''And he
shall be thy lord" This passage she made
to read. by changing the word "herr'' to
MARI" And he shall be thy fool" The
authorities were so Mortified at her revised
edition of Genesis that she was hanged. The
New York Tribune was once badly deceived
by waggish correspondent in Ireland. He
sent detailed and very readable account of
a battle in Ireland. The CORY field bore the
significant name Of Slieyenagamon No such
battle had ever been fought. 1t was three
days before the hoax was discovered, and
then the windows ratified in the Tribune Of
fee.
English newspaper men are, perhaps, more
inclined to pranks of this sort than their
brethren in America. The story is told of
some parliamentary reporters who devised a
plan for enjoying q little recreation, and vet
covering the work allotted to them. Some
half dozen or more agreed that one of the
number should report the proceedings of the
House of Commons, and the rest should go
up the Thames to some resort every day and
drive dull care away. Each was to take his
turn for day in the reporters gallery The
plan worked well for some time. England
was kept advised OF what her august
legislators were doing, and the re-
porters enjoyed pastoral scenes far
from London town. Each night they re-
turned and wrote out the proceedings Of the
House of Commons from the manuscript of
the journalist who had done sweating duty
during the day. But storm was brewing.
A little irish reporter, q graceless wag, on
one of the more obscure London papers, was
left to take his turn, and he PLAYED trio k
on the beer-befuddled scribes, which startled
and amused all London. In the middle of a
grave speech by the chancellor of the ex-
chequer on tho finances he had interpolated
fervid eulogy on the Irish potato. The
statesman was made to suddenly drop fl
nances and budgets, and with eccentric irrel-
evancy break into glowing tribute to the
potato of old Erin, his cloud-clearing flight
closing somewhat like this: "And if in my
youth, Mr.. Speaker, had been bountifully
fed on that life-giying vegetable, Mr. Speak
err. should now be strong and lusty man,
instead OF the miserable, shriveed up little
being that you see before you" This actu-
ally appeared in one of the leading London
papers. 1t broke up the excursions The
statesman grew purple in the face in protest
ing against being made to talk like lunatic.
The House appointed a committee of inyes-
tigation, but the Investigators themselves en-
joyed the joke, and the matter ended in a
general laugh at the wag's impudence and a
StateSman'S wrath